The silence after he left was a deafening kind of silence.
Ava stood there, unmoving, her gaze fixed on the diamond that caught the light in the room and it felt like a cruel joke. It glinted with elegance, a perfect symbol of the cage she now wore on her hand. if someone else had gotten the ring under a different circumstance they would have been overjoyed but now her
Her chest rose and fell in shallow, uneven breaths. For a moment, she considered yanking it off and throwing it across the room, watching it bounce off the marble and disappear under some polished cabinet. But her fingers wouldn't obey. The band felt heavy, like it had fused with her skin.
She hated him.
She hated the way he made her feel small and furious and… seen.
Ava turned sharply and left the dining room, her heels clicking against the polished floor. Every corner of the mansion seemed to whisper his name, the faint scent of his cologne was still lingering in the air.
She needed air, anything that would get her mind off him for a while.
She walked about the house, searching for a place she would stay and she soon found a terrace.
As she stood there the world outside hit her in a rush of sharp wind,sunlight spilling through iron railings, the endless stretch of gardens and the forest beyond the estate. The view was beautiful, breathtaking even, but it only reminded her of what she couldn't have. Freedom.
Ava gripped the railing, her knuckles turning white. Somewhere out there, Lily was still missing, and every second spent here in this gilded prison made her feel like she was betraying her. How would Lily react if she found out she was getting married to Damian Cross. she imagined her sister staring at her in complete disbelieve.
Her thoughts were soon interuppted when the door of the terrace creaked behind her.
She turned, a bit startled, but it wasn't Damian. It was Clara again, holding a tablet this time, her posture as perfect as her expression.
"Mr. Cross asked me to go over your schedule for today," Clara said smoothly. "There are fittings this afternoon, a call with the planner, and a press appearance tomorrow morning. The usual pre-wedding madness."
Ava's stomach twisted. "pre wedding?" She muttered in a sharp tone, a hint of disbelief in her tone.
"Yes," Clara said, as if she was speaking to a child. "The ceremony will be in five days. Small, elegant. Exclusive."
Ava's mind reeled immediately, her heart jumping
Five days!. He hadn't told her that, Of course he hadn't. Five days was too soon.
"I didn't agree to this," she said trying to keep her tone low and not to act like she was completely shocked by this news.
Clara only smiled faintly. "You signed the contract. That's as good as a vow. i do hope you went through it so there wouldn't be any misunderstanding between us."
Ava wanted to slap that smile off her face. Instead, she drew in a long, shaky breath. "Tell your boss I'm not his puppet."
"Oh, believe me," Clara muttered as she turned to leave, "I think he already knows."
The door shut softly behind her.
Ava's grip on the railing loosened. The gardens below were empty endless hedges, fountains, marble statues that looked too human in the distance. It was strange, how quiet the place always was. She had yet to see more than a handful of people, only the butler, Clara, and a few others who never spoke unless spoken to.
It was as if the mansion was a living thing, one that was listening, watching and waiting..
Later, when she returned to her room, the ring still gleamed on her hand. She tried again to remove it, twisting it, pulling until her finger ached. It didn't budge. Her skin burned red around the metal, but the ring refused to come off.
"Damn it," she whispered, her voice trembling.
She slumped into the chair by the window. The sky outside was a washed-out gray, clouds gathering over the horizon. Her reflection in the glass looked pale and foreign, a woman she barely recognized.
She thought of Lily again, her laughter, her stubborn hopefulness and confidence about the future or the success of something.
If she could see Ava now, trapped in this house, wearing the ring of the man she despised, what would she say?
"Hold on," Ava murmured to herself. "Just hold on."
She wasn't done yet.
That evening, she found herself wandering through the hallways again. no one was in sight, she couldn't even hear voices, which was a good thing for her. she would be able to search around without anyone noticing her.
The mansion stretched endlessly as she walked by, the corridors were lined with paintings, heavy drapes, and antique chandeliers. Everything screamed wealth, power, control. Damian's control.
And yet, there were locked doors everywhere. She tried a few discreetly as she walked, but each handle turned uselessly. they wouldn't bulge. so many rooms and she couldn't get into one.
What was he hiding behind them?
The thought burned in her mind long after she returned to her room afraid that someone might see her snooping around and quickly go tattleling to her soon to be husband.
Soon a soft knock was on her door and she opened it to see the butler from breakfast. "Dinner is ready ma'am" He said politely and ava nodded leaving her room and dreading to see Damian again..
Dinner came and went. She couldn't eat much. Damian didn't appear but she could hear his voice faintly through the walls once, speaking to someone as he walked by before his voice trailed off, it was low, commanding and unreadable.
she walked to his study and looked to her left and right before she pressed her ear against the door, straining to catch a word, but it was useless. she couldn't hear a single things from inside the study. was his study sound proof.
She soon returned back to her new room and laid on the on the bed, staring at the ceiling until exhaustion crept up again.
When sleep came, it wasn't peaceful.
She dreamt of Lily again standing at the edge of a dark room, whispering something Ava couldn't hear. Behind her, a shadow moved, it was a tall, familiar, and cold one..
A glint of light and then she saw a ring. The same ring now circling her own finger.
Ava jerked awake with a strangled gasp. Sweat had dampened her skin and her heart was pounding violently.
It took her a moment to remember where she was. The mansion. The bed. The ring.
Her eyes darted to the clock, it was 2:47 a.m.
She pushed the sheets aside and stood. The silence pressed in on her ears like a weight. Outside, the wind howled faintly through the trees.
Unable to stop herself, she left her room and padded quietly down the hall. The air was colder now, heavy with that faint, expensive scent that always reminded her of him.
She had no idea where she was headed but she soon reached his study door, the same one she had put her ear on to eavesdrop on his conversations and sign that freaking contract.
There was a crack of light beneath the door. He was still awake.
She froze, her pulse thundering. A hundred thoughts ran through her mind at that moment. she could knock, demand answers, demand to know what he was hiding, what he knew about Lily. But then she imagined his eyes, those calm, calculating and unreadable eyes and her courage wavered. he would tell her the same thing.
She turned and walked away, forcing herself not to look back.
But as she climbed the stairs again, her eyes caught something glinting faintly on the wall, a small, polished plaque near one of the locked doors.
West Wing Private.
Something inside her twisted.
If she was going to survive here, if she was ever going to find out what really happened to her sister, she'd have to stop playing by his rules.
Because Damian Cross wasn't going to hand her the truth.
She'd have to take it from him.